Voracek fight shows team solidarity

Sunday

But there the Czech player was on Sunday night, doing his best impersonation of Dave Schultz in the first fight of his NHL career.

Voracek was sticking up for linemate Claude Giroux, who had just been clobbered by Washington’s Steve Oleksy at 5:04 of the third period with the score tied at 2-2.

At that point, Voracek pummeled Oleksy and wound up with 19 penalty minutes (instigation, fighting with a face shield, fighting and 10-minute misconduct).

On the ensuing four minutes of power plays, Washington scored two goals to take a 4-2 lead.

But in the Flyers’ minds, that was OK because Voracek had stuck up for a colleague and a friend and that’s what the Flyers need right now: Togetherness.

New Flyer defenseman Kent Huskins was impressed with this show of fraternal solidarity.

“Yeah, despite the penalties it’s kind of an emotional lift for a team when you see an elite player (do something) like that,’’ Huskins said.

“Our bench was fired up when he came back to the bench. Everyone was up tapping on the boards telling him good job. We kind of fed off that for the rest of the game.”

Voracek wore a sheepish look when talking about the fight but that quickly turned to smiles as teammates kidded him about his enforcer skills.

“First of all, I was pretty lucky there,’’ said Voracek. “He swung twice pretty hard and he missed me so obviously it was good to get a win after we went down two and that penalty kill, it’s a huge two points for us.’’

Voracek didn’t actually see the hit on Giroux. No matter. He was going to stick up for him at any cost.

“I ran up to him (Oleksy) and he turned around and I had no choice after it,’’ Voracek said. “Obviously I wasn’t very happy about the result, basically 19 minutes for a fight and be thrown out of the game. I’m very happy we came back, we got a huge two points.’’

This is the kind of team spirit the Flyers want to have going down the stretch of the last 13 games.

“We showed a lot of chemistry that we finally came back from two goals down to win it in overtime,’’ Voracek said. “So it’s a huge two points.’’

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Huskins fits in: Kent Huskins is no stranger to address changes on short notice. The Flyers are his fifth NHL team.

So, after moving his hockey bag from the Detroit Red Wings locker room to the Flyers’ on short notice, it wasn’t really a big deal.

The Flyers wasted little time getting the 33-year-old defenseman into their lineup.

With the Flyers having played on Saturday against Boston, there wasn’t even a morning skate on Sunday to allow Huskins to get acclimated.

“Actually, I was fortunate to get on the ice this morning with a couple guys and take some shots on ‘Leights’ (Michael Leighton) this morning, so it was good after flying yesterday _ a bit of a stressful day,’’ Huskins said before the game. “I think the adrenaline carries you a lot in situations, too.”

Huskins had played only 11 games this season with the Red Wings so he wasn’t stunned when he was moved.

“I guess there were some whispers,’’ he said. “I’m excited to come to a situation where I get to play some games. That’s the big thing. I’m excited to come to a great organization like Philadelphia and be a part of things here.”

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Talbot injured: Max Talbot had to be helped off the ice with just over a minute remaining in the second period. The Flyers are calling it a lower body injury but it could be significant.

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